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Domain: spotimage.fr

Stories and comments across the archive that link to spotimage.fr.

Comments · 11

  1. Re:Somewhat pointless, horse, barn, ... by b00le · · Score: 4, Informative · on Spy Chief Hints At Limits On Satellite Photos

    There are no commercial European satellites with .5 metre pixel capability. The only commercial European Remote Sensing mission currently is SpotImage -- Spot 5 has a 2.5 m capability.

    For all those who ask 'how hard can it be?' (shades of Top Gear...) entry level into the commercial Very High Resolution satellite business starts at around half a billion -- don't forget the ground segment. Even future missions are not planning to go much below .4 metre: the problems of handling huge data volumes, programming the satellite acquisitions, and the trade-off in covereage are not worth the gains in sharpness for most commercial users. The US military can get down to about 10 cm (allegedly), but are believed to use highly elliptical orbits (and huge, Hubble-sized telescopes) which would be inmpractical for commercial operators. 10 cm is not as good as Hollywood has got: the last episode of '24' showed what was supposed to be a Landsat image - only it was thermal infrared at about 1 cm updated once a second (as opposed to 15 m every two weeks or more...)

    The Man may well have bought 'all the coverage of Afghanistan' -- from a single operator. The Ikonos mission (1m pixel) was the only one operating at the time. The US Govt. does retain 'shutter control' rights of all the VHR missionslicensed by them - which is all the current VHR missions. That will change - especially with COSMO-SkyMed, a constellation of all-weather radar satellites with a max. resolution of >1m, coming soon.

    There's a intro to VHR satellite imagery here.

  2. Re:It's only for helping the farmers right? by Seanasy · · Score: 3, Insightful · on VENUS Satellite, The Next Eye in the Sky
    Advanced, high-res optical cameras.

    The spatial resolution, as stated in the article, is 5.3m. Think about how big something would have to be in order for an image to show anything meaningful about it if each pixel represents 5 m^2.

    Plasma thruster to change orbits.

    Exactly why do you think this is spooky?

    Small size, for smaller radar image, and/or better survivability.

    Or, maybe, a small size means less weight and lower cost to orbit. But, don't let that hamper your paranoia.

    Even if I am just being paranoid, the military potential is there...

    Where? Look at this 5m SPOT image and tell me what the military applications are when you've got 2m commercially available imagery and probably much, much better on the satellite that wasn't announced in a press release.

  3. Re:Not just stereo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative · on India Launches World's First Stereo Imaging Satellite

    It's not the first stereo capable satellite: the french satellites SPOT have 3D capabilities (they have two identical cameras).

    SPOT 1 was launched in the late 80's.

  4. World's first? by fremsley471 · · Score: 1 · on India Launches World's First Stereo Imaging Satellite
    SPOT 10 m stereographic

    http://www.spotimage.fr/html/_167_171_810_.php Launched 1986

    Aster 15 m stereographic

    http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/content/03_data/01_Da ta_Products/DEM.PDF

    First launched 1999. $3600 sq km cost US$60 and are public access.

    IKONOS 1 m stereographic

    http://www.spaceimaging.com/products/ikonos/stereo .htm

  5. Re:Anybody know the specs? Spectral/Spatial res? by mattj452 · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Ariane 5 Deploys French Spy Satellite

    According to this http://www.home.alcatel.com/vpr/vpr.nsf/DateKey/28 072004_1uk/ the manufacturer of the HiRes camera is Alcatel. It seems that they have similar equipment on spot 5 (http://www.spotimage.fr/html/_167_238_.php?group= 0104/). However, It might be a if you want 1m satellite images!) Sorry for the formatting...

  6. SPOT Direct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Tissot's MSN Direct SPOT Watch Reviewed

    MSN Direct is lame. Why not just spend the extra pennies and make it SPOT Direct?

  7. Re:Useless by DerekLyons · · Score: 1 · on ESA Completes Important Step Toward Vega Launcher
    Vega is a LEO (Low Earth Orbit) launcher. There isn't a commercial market for low earth orbit satellites. Commercial satellites want GEO (geosynchronous orbit).
    No? I guess these satellites, among many others, aren't 'commercial'? Communications birds want geosynch so they can cover the largest possible swath of ground and provide a stable point for the ground antenna to point to. Most everybody else wants to be down lower, especially imaging birds.
    ESO need to concentrate on improving Ariane 5 reliability and cost.
    Why should the ESO be responsible for a bird that belongs to someone else? Especially a bird that if far too big for many uses, as it's optimized for delivering large payloads to GTO.
  8. Re:Certainly the earth has been better mapped by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Mars Express 3D Image Released

    Top secret? Heck, such data is commercially available.

    SPOT
    Ikonos
    Indian Remote Sensing

    Or, if you insist on US Government products, see the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (which used to be the Defense Mapping Agency).

  9. What about the SPOT satellites? by boa13 · · Score: 2 · on Satellite Back From The Dead

    It seems to me that such a kind of feat was also achieved with the SPOT satellites, except that it was of much more commercial importance.

    The SPOT 3 satellite died in orbit on November 1996, way before its SPOT 4 successor was launched (March 1998). Meanwhile, to be able to continue their business, the owners of the SPOT network more or less resurrected SPOT 1, which was launched on February 1986.

    Sadly, I don't remember or even knew all the details, so I would be glad if someone could step up to provide some more.

    Related, but slightly OT: last November, a 50 Mbps laser link between SPOT 4 orbiting at 832 km and another satellite (Artemis) orbiting at 31,000 km was successfully tested. This allows ground stations to keep contact with SPOT 4 for a much longer time, and avoids having to rely too much on the onboard storage systems. Now, that's high-tech. :)

  10. What about the SPOT satellites? by boa13 · · Score: 2 · on Satellite Back From The Dead

    It seems to me that such a kind of feat was also achieved with the SPOT satellites, except that it was of much more commercial importance.

    The SPOT 3 satellite died in orbit on November 1996, way before its SPOT 4 successor was launched (March 1998). Meanwhile, to be able to continue their business, the owners of the SPOT network more or less resurrected SPOT 1, which was launched on February 1986.

    Sadly, I don't remember or even knew all the details, so I would be glad if someone could step up to provide some more.

    Related, but slightly OT: last November, a 50 Mbps laser link between SPOT 4 orbiting at 832 km and another satellite (Artemis) orbiting at 31,000 km was successfully tested. This allows ground stations to keep contact with SPOT 4 for a much longer time, and avoids having to rely too much on the onboard storage systems. Now, that's high-tech. :)

  11. Re:Area 51, I found the URL by Crixus · · Score: 3 · on Sneaky Satellite Photos Available Online
    OK, in my first message here I talked about a French web site with a catalog of satellite photos of the earth.

    After searching far and wide (I even checked on floppies) I found the URL. I don't know if it will work for you, because friends have told me that they occasionally get locked out being asked for a password, but here it is:

    It's called DALI.

    Use it, but don't abuse it. :-)

    If it gets slashdotted they'll probably cut us off.